Update of the Avatar - 09/04/13: Home Sweet Home!

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Welcome to the Village Home Edition of Update of the Avatar! We've been working on several village-level homes, including the homes that are part of the Benefactor and Founder Citizen Pledge rewards. Please keep in mind that these homes are still "works-in-progress" and are being modified and tweaked as we receive feedback. So please, log in to our forums and let us know your opinions!

Shingle-Roof Village Home

Let's start our Parade of Homes with one of our most affordable village homes, which will be available to all players, backers and non-backers alike. It is a single room, single story dwelling, that we currently refer to as the Shingle-Roof Village Home:

Here is an interior shot of the Shingle-Roof village home, without any decorations:

Benefactor Citizen Village Home

Next up, we have our unique, upscale, Benefactor Village home, only available to Benefactors and Founders (included as a reward in the Citizen level pledge). It is also a single story dwelling, with the floorplan partially divided into multiple alcoves:

Interior view of the Benefactor Village home:

Founder Citizen Village Home

Here is our unique, upscale, Founder Village home, only available to Founders (included as a reward in the Citizen level pledge). A single story dwelling, with a partially divided floorplan, and multiple roof structures:

Interior view of the Founder Village home:

Viking Village Home - September 1/2 Price SALE!

With this next house, we experimented with something that allowed for a larger variety of color, yet still appropriate for the time period and overall art style. This Viking Village home is a two-story dwelling, with a single large room downstairs and a wrap-around loft on the second floor:

And here are a couple of interior shots of the Viking home, with a few decorations added:

This is a shot of the Benefactor, Founder, and Viking village homes, shown in-game, on side-by-side lots:

Here are the floor plans for all four village homes, to give you a sense of the different sizes and layouts:

[NOTE: "Founders" are backers that pledged any amount by May 20, 2013, and "Benefactors" are backers that pledged after May 20, 2013.]

Special Thank You to Hearth of Britannia!

We'd like to share our deep appreciation and heartfelt thanks to Rustic Dragon and all the other folks that contributed their time, materials, and funds, to help raise additional pledges during the 24-hour Telethon of the Avatar! There was much merriment throughout the entire Telethon as Developers and fans alike joined together in the festivities. And in the end, an additional $12,999 was raised for Shroud of the Avatar development! If you missed it, you can watch the telethon via the following links: Part I – Part II – Part III – Part IV – Part V – Part VI.

Comments

If Portalarium need extra funds they should be coming up with the same reward for all backers from the $25 Pledge, by setting a new stretch goal to achieve so we all gain. Not random rewards for people that have lots of spare money.

And with them selling the already very limited Housing lots allowing anyone to buy Multi Land lots for 1 account it will be the same few that benefit.
I don't expect anyone who as Paid $150 will sell it for some in game Gold. It will be sold for real $$ at a highly inflated price.

I understand that you want to earn more money through this game. For one to make more and better content for it and for second to just earn money with the game. I'm happy with both.
I would be unhappy to see if you focus more on the latter then on the former. In that case I would like better to not have backed this project. But right now we don't know in which direction you are going.

To see this direction better, please try to give us more updates where you are showing us how awesome the game is (without needing to buy any additional stuff). I think a ration wtih you spend 3-4x times on reporting what you are making and 1x time what additional stuff you have for sale could be okay. Currently (it seems to me) most ppl have the impression it's the other way around, and that for sure hurts the community and you earning money with us. Also we shouldn't forget that reputation lost is also future money lost.

just my 2 cents: Having this "please insert more money here for new features" mentality feels strange to me -> maybe not the best choice to go this road... in the end you will not be able to keep the deadline/release date when you focus on new money features all the time!
I assume to get done with the game (alpha) even earlier would be much better for the community than introducing new money-features ...

This is getting slightly ridiculous. I remember Ultima being about cool gameplay, moral choices and whatnot. All I read in these updates are cash-making schemes that are moving further and further away from the core-concepts that made Ultima great. This is very dissapointing to me, since by backing I hoped to invest in a *true* Ultima-game with meaningfull single-player, offline gameplay. I propose Portalarium-employees take urine-urine tests before working on the game from now on.

I'm still not sure about all the "sky is falling" because they are trying to raise more money and give us something in return.

@Tealus You're right, it IS a single player game with multiplayer aspects. If you want to play by yourself, not seeing anyone, that's COMPLETELY OK and an option. This is known as is Selective Multiplayer. With both Richard Garriott AND Tracy Hickman working on the storyline, I have no doubt it will be an epic adventure for solo and multiplayers alike.

If you want a house, guess what? You can still get one with just in-game gold. You don't need to buy anything with RL $$. This goes for solo and multiplayer options. Sure, plots are limited in the multiplayer world, but this is as it should be. Housing is a privilege, not a right.

I'm confused. I thought this was a single player game with co-op/multiplayer options. That is why I backed this project. From the beginning, it was said not to be an MMO. Now it's starting to act like an MMO and simlife mix. Buy the land plot before someone buys it. Spend real money for a new house design, new clothes designs, etc...

I'm regretting backing this project. Its my fault for trusting the Richard name.

Superbacker

I cannot help but feel disappointed with the Founder house, considering without us Founder backers this project wouldn't be up and running. At the very least, I would expect it to have a bigger floorplan than the benefactor house, its outside appearance is deceptive, as it appears to have two floors, but inside it hasn't.

Call me cynical, but I feel this is deliberate attempt to make us backers pay even more money, by making the Viking house more attractive with more space.

@ Ipendragon: They started the recruitment program for just such a thing. To try and get more people into the game. They have limited means to push this to more people. It's gotten coverage from online game sites, and that helps spread the word. But word of mouth from the current fan/support base goes a long ways toward reaching new people.
Offering other options to us, does not mean we have to invest. But those who want the new items/content will need to pay for it.
This last update included other housing including a look at a in game available house, as well as the founder and backer citizen houses. So, it really wasn't focused primarily on the new house option for sale.

I wish that this game should fly and be great. But the focus on selling additional stuff to the alread invested people looks wrong to me. I want to have the full fun with the base game w/o buying additional stuff. I have no problem to have to pay for further episodes, because then I know how much fun I had with the previous one, and can then if I want to play the next one, too.

@Polarium: Try to find new people to invest into the game and don't focus on the existing ones. Try to show us why your game is great w/o telling us what we additional could/should buy to "even more" enjoy the game.

The worst case for me would be having backed a game which is only fun for people with a near endless purse who can buy enough additional stuff to have then fun.

Well I am honestly getting concerned right now. It feels like every update I see ends with an 'invest more money' message behind it.

Also with every message the whole housing things gets pushed. Getting the feeling that I should get one now or I will be screwed in game as 'plots are limited'. However $ 500 is a LOT of money for an item in a digital world. I am not sure Portalarium understand how but that amount really is.
Especially since we don't know how great the game would be. We are seeing it slowly being built but can it stand the test of time? I do not wish to throw my money into a game which might flop somewhere around the first episode due to it just not being all that.

So yes I worry a lot for this game. I loved ultima only but the housing concept in it was just broken. People camping plots or just playing land broker. Meanwhile casual players like me got screwed because it took us forever to grind the amount to buy a deed. Even when we got them we were unable to place them because every decent spot was camped by someone with more free time to play.

I worry. Will I be able to play this game as a casual player? Will I need a house? Will I be able to get a house? Will I be able to place it? .......... Not sure what to make of it.

The new Viking Home is a nice addition, especially for unique housing options. Hopefully we'll see an Igloo that can only be built in the coldest reaches of New Britannia. I wonder what the cellar would look like.... hmmm

And for folks worried that "Portalarium needs more money", I'm not sure why that's such a big deal. We've gotten SO MUCH interaction on the forums from the devs and it's still in the early stages. Anything that'll help them out, I'm all for.

Getting more and more worried that Portalarium needs more money... All their updates are about it so it must be important to them still.. even after more than meeting the goal.

Tell something about the game without talking about money for once :p (no I don't follow the forums avidly as I have backed too many projects to keep tabs on in that manner, guess I could pay it a visit once more some time)

Thank you for your continued enthusiastic support of the project. I would like to answer a few questions raised here.

Houses: Many houses can be purchased with in game currency. Some house styles can only be purchased in the add-on store. Some house styles are only available to backers. Those variations in house style are only visual and/or layout. They do not affect the mechanics of game-play in any way. At no time will a player be required to spend real dollars on a house if they do not want to. It is simply an option for those who want it or want to spend their in game currency on other items. Additionally houses can be traded between players so they are valuable commodities worthy of investment. Purchasing a house like the Viking House gives the player another house to choose to place on their lot.

Rent: Rent is for lots, not houses. Rent is paid with in game currency. Rent is unchanged by any choices you make concerning house purchase or placement.

Edelmann: The Edelmann house is in progress and we hope to release images in the next week or so.

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(NOTE: You will need a Village, Town, or City Level Property to place the Viking Village home in-game. Citizen Level pledges and higher will still receive the home included in their rewards if they purchase the Viking home as an add-on)
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Guys, first off so there is no confusion: the add-on for sale in the store is to add a special design to a deed you already need to have (be it from a pledge, or after you buy a deed in-game with in-game gold.) You are not purchasing a DEED or a HOUSE. You are purchasing a HOUSE STYLE that is unique. It will be added to your choice of houses after you purchase and place a deed.

You DO NOT NEED TO PAY REAL MONEY TO HAVE A HOUSE IN GAME. House deeds are being given away as thank-yous to high level backers. HOUSES WILL BE AVAILABLE IN GAME FOR IN-GAME GOLD. Housing space will be limited to available plots, so getting in at citizen+ tier is appealing to those that don't want to worry about the land rush. MORE HOUSE PLOTS WILL BE AVAILABLE WITH EACH EXPANSION... for IN GAME GOLD. So if you can't make enough in-game in time to place a home, you can either trade with another player, or get in at the next episode in the next piece of land.

Again....... the item for sale is a vanity item. It looks cool and has more space to display your junk. It is NOT required if you want a house in game and does not give any player an advantage. If vanity is not worth spending $ on, then don't worry about it and move on with your day. There WILL be other varied styles of houses available in-game for you.

The houses are looking really nice. But serioulsy the prices are looking damn greedy. With all the criticism of going to be a pay-to-win game this doesn't help. But as many said you don't need to buy any of those houses. I hope that you neither need to buy any other stuff to have fun playing.
But I really don't like the idea to pay for a game (my pledge) and then not being able to access the other stuff for a amount of money which lies within a normal game price. (And $100 or even $50 for the house plus my plege is not within a price for a game i would pay).

It's optional.
You don't have to buy it. You could still upgrade to a higher tier like citizen or knight.
Or buy a house in game the traditional way. It will of course have the same general appearance as every other bought in game house. But it's a totally viable option, if you don't want to buy a pay for cash, exclusive.

It's not going to cost $100 in game to own a house.
This is a pay for exclusive that won't be available in game. Thus, if you want something special, that you wont't be able to get in the game. A home that doesn't look pretty much the same as 90% of the home will look, Well, it's on sale for $50. So buy now. Operators are standing by to take your order. And if you order now, they'll throw in a free can of wolf odor be-gone. For the viking that's tired of their home always smelling like old wolf fur. And wait! if you order in the next 60 seconds... you get this genuine faux fur port-a-potty seat warmer!

Superbacker

OFC things in game cost money. Look at star citizen and their "micro" transactions. Farm ville fooked it up for everyone lol. I can tell you right now I aint paying another dime on this game. I'll live in a box under a bridge.